Diamond Select-GhostBusters • Terror Dog

Terror Dogs are a vicious breed of demonic hellhounds found in the Ghostbusters franchise dating back to the original film.

Terror Dogs are large and bulky monsters vaguely resembling actual dogs but have horns and glowing red eyes as well as a degree of intelligence and can possess human beings as vessels. Although rarely seen, there seems to be more than one type of Terror Dog, with a much larger breed being briefly seen in the cartoon series.

The most famous (as well as the most powerful) Terror Dogs in Ghostbusters canon were the two loyal servants of Gozer known as Zuul and Vinz Clortho.

Ghostbusters

The Terror Dogs are two horned, dog-like, demonic monsters with blazing red eyes and powerful dark-colored bodies. They are Zuul The Gatekeeper & Vinz Clortho The Keymaster, loyal minions of Gozer the Gozerian. Zuul & Vinz Clortho manifested from Terror Dog statues on the roof of Dana's apartment building. Zuul stalked Dana Barrett and first appeared inside her refrigerator and later possessed her body in her kitchen. Vinz then appeared in Louis Tully's apartment in the middle of a party and chased him down in Central Park before it took possession of his body. After possessing both tenants the Terror Dogs changed their personality radically. Dana, her body now possessed by Zuul, becomes hypersexualized. She aggressively seduced Peter Venkman when he arrived for their previously scheduled date, later exhibiting further signs of her demonic Terror Dog possession when she levitated off her bed and growling inhumanly when Peter rejected her advances. Then Louis, became an even clumsier version of his non-possessed self. First stumbling around Central Park, confusing The Gatekeeper for a carriage horse, then presenting his signs of possession by flaring his eyes red and growling at a coachman when he offered him a ride, which gets him arrested and dropped off at the Ghostbusters' headquarters.

Both Terror Dogs later sought each other out, seizing the opportunity caused by the explosion at the Ghostbusters' Firehouse. Zuul and Vinz finally met inside Dana's apartment, kissing passionately and immediately headed for the building rooftop to complete their ritual union. After completing their mating ritual, the two possessed beings were struck by lightning which they used to open the temple door to secure Gozer's arrival then, with the doorway fully open, Zuul and Vinz completed their transformation from Dana and Louis' human forms to their original demonic, Terror Dog bodies. With their transformation complete, they took their places besides Gozer. Later, they become charred statues of their demonic bodies once Gozer was defeated, trapping Dana and Louis inside of them until the Ghostbusters broke them free.